Disney: Animal Kingdom

Our second and last park was Animal Kingdom.

Funny/Interesting/Pointless fact:  The last time Jason and I were at Disney World was in 2000.  The Shippensburg Concert Band took our show on the road.  (LOL).  I knew of Jason since he was the "hot one in the trumpet section".  I was dating someone else at the time who didn't like rides.  Somehow we both ended up hanging with the same group of people and having one unforgettable nightmare dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  It's funny to be back here 16 years later with the same guy ;)

The awesome Tree of Life

Seeing all the animals in the tree is
simply amazing!

The kids got to be Wildness Explorers for the day.  Their job was to collect "badges" throughout the park, which were earned by completing activities, finding animals, and meeting people from far away lands, learning about animals from a troop leader.  It was a great way to keep my kids interested as we meandered through the crowds.  (there aren't many rides at AK)

But first learning the Wildness Explorer pledge

A map of all the badges to earn!

Earning her Music Badge

The main attraction at Animal Kingdom is the African safari.  I remember being blown away by this when I visited in college.  This time, not so much.  I blame my years of visiting the Maryland Zoo with the kids for our lack of awe for seeing these amazing animals.  Our zoo doesn't have hippos or crocs; those I was excited to see.

Hippos!

Such small ears for such fat animals

Braylen was amped up over these guys

pretty cool to see without a big barrier between us

Holy horns

"little" elephants

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight

Speaking of Lion King... that was our next fast pass.  And since there were hippo stuffed animals outside the show, I kind of gave in.  So here's the story after Lion King Simba had a cub named Kion who is part of the "Lion Guard", a Disney Junior series.  I didn't know the hippo and cheetah names, but you bet my kids did.

Our new friends-
"Beshte" the hippo and "Fuli" the cheetah

I loved the Lion King show:  good music, Timon and Pumbaa, acrobatics, fire, and lots of dancing.  I think the whole fam enjoyed it too.

Pumbaa just makes me laugh

Even though our kids haven't seen most of the movies, or even read the books, of the characters at AK, they still wanted to see them.  Evie was really into her autograph book; I think it gave her something to "say" to them without having to speak to them.

Flik from Bug's Life

Tarzan

The original wilderness explorer, Russel
from "Up"

Dug from "Up"

That's a lot of badges!

The longest line and the shyest girl

A smile is in there behind her cheetah

Now these guys... I didn't even know their names, but they were worth the 25 minute wait!

King Louie from "Jungle Book" snuggles B's hippo

Somehow these characters were allowed to parade around with Braylen's newly bought "Beshte" without Braylen crying.  He thought it was funny.

Baloo thought Beshte was treasure

LOL.  I loved how they interacted with Bray

Silly crew

We never made it to Dino Land or finished finding badges due to tiredness, but Jason and I did sneak away for our final fast pass on the Everest roller coaster.  A fun one!  

We all took late afternoon naps to gear up for a special treat that night; a mom I met briefly in MOPS invited us to the Contemporary's Top of The World Lounge to see the MK fireworks.  It sounded like a fun way to finish out our last night in Disney.

All ready for the night with our glow bracelets,
glow sticks, and glow glasses (can you see G in the back with
the yellow glasses?)

First playdate ever and it was in Disney.
Yes, we live 15 minutes from each other

The castle was white.  Stunning

The sacrifices parents make for vertically challenged kids

Pretty view overlooking the Magic Kingdom.
The fireworks... eh, nothing super impressive.
But I guess when they are set off every night,
they can't be over the top.

And cue meltdowns.  Even with our naps, staying out to see the fireworks start at 9 PM pushed my kids over the edge.  Props to the families that attempt going back to the park at night.  We are clearly years off from being able to do this.  Braylen wanted more fireworks, Evie wanted her thumb.  I'm glad we waited until our last night to keep the kids up late; tomorrow is check out day.

I forgot to include my favorite part of the day- the close up of the hippo!